secretary of state, john kerry, face to face with sergei lavrov. they are both in paris for talks that have been planned before the russian takeover. the talks are so much more urgent. perhaps the most important test yet as to whether dialogue can be used to resolve the crisis in ukraine. in some ways, there have been setbacks. if the us and eu impose sanctions on russia, washington is looking at a series of punitive steps including economic and diplomatic sanctions designed to isolate moscow. no sign either side is backing down from a somewhat polite standoff between russian and ukrainian troops. polite so far. these troops are all armed and the russian forces do remain in effect tiff control of the crimean peninsula. we are covering all the ankles f angles at this hour. elise labott joins us and michael holmes and our chief national security correspondent, jim sciutto, joins us from washington. >>> first, elise, i want to speak with you. i understand john kerry has already had a brief meeting with the russian foreign minister, sergei lavrov. they